1:32 P-51D-5NA Mustang wheels and canopy (outside) and windows paint mask (for Revell 3944 kit)

The first bubble Mustangs from Inglewood

The P-51D-5NA production block was the initial batch of the D version from the California plant. The cut-down fuselage spine and the molded bubble canopy gave the pilot a field of view that the previous framed cockpit did not offer, but removing the side areas worsened the directional stability. Only the later machines received a forward-extended dorsal fin, with which the early examples were often retrofitted directly at the units.

The package allows for three groups of surfaces: the bubble part, the armored windscreen and the wheels. With a bubble cockpit the work is demanding precisely because there are few frames but the area of the clear part is large, and every fingerprint will show under the paint in the end.

• The bubble canopy, the windscreen and the wheels
• It matches the early production batch of the D version
• Dimensions for the kit in the large scale
• Covering from outside, with the inside left without film

A bubble deserves a glossy surface. The films go on first, the frame color is sprayed, and once that has dried the area is polished, because clouding of the clear part can no longer be reversed by varnishing it back. A model with a perfectly smooth cockpit looks a class better than the same model with a hazy one, and it is a difference even a layman notices.

Part of the build is deciding whether to open or close the cockpit. A slid-back bubble reveals the whole pilot's space and the gunsight, and with this type that is tempting, because the interior tends to be well worked out. The clear part is then sprayed separately and seated into its rails right at the end, when nothing sharp threatens the model any more.